This is a good, short little breakdown of the main attempts on the Mount Garibaldi peaks.

If there were such a thing as Instagram in the 1920s, this would perhaps have been one for a post. Here, an unnamed mountaineer poses while on a BC Mountaineering Club Camp at Singing Creek, near Cheakamus Lake, in August 1924.

Described only as "camp" in 1914, it is likely to be one of the BC Mountaineering Club summer expeditions to the Garibaldi area. With the rope and their ice axes, these women look set for a day's trek, maybe across a glacier.

Please Note: This report includes the term "Indian” which is no longer acceptable as it does not reflect the sovereign status of Indigenous Nations and the cultural differences among them.

The Garibaldi area was the fourth park established in British Columbia. Today around eighty thousand visitors per year enjoy the views, likely without thinking about how it came to be.

This 1984 report gives a detailed and interesting look at the story of the park, including the activities of the BC Mountaineering Club, its members and the evolution of park access and infrastructure.

According to item F205-S12(12-6)-i1, the first float plane landed on Garibaldi Lake in 1930 or 1931. This plane was possibly taking people and supplies for camp or Park needs. After years of trekking everything into the area by horseback, a plane was a much easier way to get to this lake that sits at an elevation of almost 1500 metres (~4500 feet).

Garibaldi Lake is at an elevation of almost 1500 metres (~4500 feet). Yet this timeline tells us that in 1928 the lake was stocked with fish. That begs the question, how were the fish taken there? Were they taken by horseback, cocooned in a swishing, sloshing saddle pack? Or were they air-dropped by a plane that never landed, as has been the practice elsewhere and in later years?

This document does not say why or how the fish-stocking happened. However, this short timeline is a very useful breakdown of the history of Garibaldi Park before 1942.

Early settler mountaineers fell in love with the Garibaldi area. Their passion for this special place led them to advocate for its protection.

This love for the area is clear to see in the photo albums of Neal Carter, an early BC mountaineer. These pages are an extract from expeditions to the Garibaldi region. The care and attention he has put into these pages suggests just how much the mountains meant to him.

The love affair between early settler adventurers and the Mount Garibaldi region was strong. Being among the few settlers who knew the area, their desire to preserve it to share with others led to their advocacy for Park status.

This article in the British Columbia Monthly magazine in 1919 is an eloquent description of the area and the place it had in the hearts of those who knew it.

In 1920 it became the Garibaldi Park Reserve, before becoming Garibaldi Provincial Park in 1927.

This photo of Lake Garibaldi showing Mount Garibaldi, Sphinx, and The Table is a view that countless hikers have seen in the last century. In 1914 when this photo was taken, far fewer people had looked over this landscape. Back then, only Indigenous Peoples such as those from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation, the early settler mountaineers and perhaps a few trappers or prospectors had stood here.

Many of the mountaineers overlooking the view back then were members of the BC Mountaineering Club. They recognized how special the area was for its glaciers, peaks, meadows and water bodies. Their time there led them to advocate for the creation of Garibaldi Park.

In October 1915, the BC Mountaineering Club sent a special resolution to the Provincial Lands Department, calling for protection of the Mount Garibaldi District. They wanted to see natural features “preserved unimpaired for the instruction and recreation of the people of Western Canada.”

Today, parkland is generally created for habitat preservation, more than for "instruction and recreation." Early settlers had limited understanding of the ecosystem and they had biased views on preservation. They saw preservation as a benefit to people rather than the flora and fauna of the area, and they did not understand Indigenous land use either. However, the BCMC advocacy for Garibaldi most likely helped save this special ecosystem from logging or mining at a time when there were few regulations in place to prevent such areas from exploitation.

Mountaineers on a glacier, looking towards "Castle Towers” near Garibaldi Lake, “at 8000 ft“ (approximately 2400 metres) in 1916.

One of the most intriguing things about this photo is the decorative hat and coat worn by the woman in the foreground. Why was this her choice? Were they old clothes no longer smart enough for city life? Was the hat's wide brim to keep her face out of the sun? Or did she just want to add a touch of class to her outdoor wear?

In 1917, three years after trying to engage the Provincial Lands Department on the preservation of the Mount Garibaldi district, the BC Mountaineering Club were not seeing much progress. For support, they sought the endorsement of the Alpine Club of Canada.

This letter shows that support and outlines the reasons that the ACC also felt that the Province should protect the area.

“The park would be a rich field for the mountaineer, the geologist, the botanist, the photographer and the mountain camper. Few people in Vancouver are aware of the magnificent opportunities for outdoor recreation afforded by the almost unpenetrated range of mountains that lies at their doors.”

The BC Mountaineering Club advocated for the creation of Garibaldi Park long before it became one. Their motivation was to protect the area from exploitation and to make it available for recreation, allowing those living in Vancouver and beyond to experience the wonders of nature.

This short article gives some detail about their motivations and vision for what the park could be.

Gertie Beaton (nee Wepsala) was a ski champion who wrote a newspaper column in the 1950s. It is possible that this document is one of her typed drafts and handwritten edits.

In it she talks of a proposed ski development in Garibaldi Park, with “a luxury hotel at the 6,000 foot level.“ Could this be the ski resort at Brohm Ridge that never happened? Interestingly, she questions the logic of this given the unpredictable weather.

She also talks of the ski season across the province and across the border in the United States. She certainly had her finger on the pulse of the ski world.

When the BC Mountaineering Club hit the age of fifty, the members chose to produce a booklet of memories, and fortunately for us today, we can read them here.

This is a great account of the early years of the BCMC — memories of the intrepid explorers who made the mountains their home-from-home.

• Cabins, Camps and Climbs, 1907-1911, by Frank H. Smith
• Early Days of the BC Mountaineering Club, by R. M. Mills
• Recollections, by Charles Dickens
• Reminiscences, by Professor John Davidson
• The Conception and Birth of the Vancouver Natural History Society, by Professor John Davidson
• The Story of Garibaldi Park, by L. C. Ford
• Some Reminiscences of 1920-1926 With the BCMC, by Neal M. Carter
• Snow Peaks, Mount Judge Howay, by Tom Fyles
• Robie Reid, First Recorded Ascent, June 1925, by Elliot Henderson
• Waddington Diary - 1936, by Elliot Henderson
• Waddington Area - 1956, by Jo Yard
• Anniversary Peak, by Roy Mason
• Bushwacking, by R. A. Pilkington
• A Mountain (song), by R. Culbert

Three mountaineers pose at the foot of Sphinx Glacier, on the eastern shore of Garibaldi Lake, in 1917. Their journey there was probably part of one of the BC Mountaineering Club's summer expeditions. Even today it is not an easy place to reach.